"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
Fifty-five National Guard members from Utah arrived in Yuma, Arizona, on Saturday as the first troops to be sent to the Arizona-Mexico border in a plan announced by President George W. Bush to crack down on illegal immigration.
The Utah troops were supposed to work on fences and other projects as part of the Guard's long-standing efforts at the Arizona border, officials had said as late as Wednesday.
But their mission has since been folded into Bush's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the four southern border states to help federal immigration agents.
The Utah troops got word of the change Friday from Guard officials in Washington, D.C., said Maj. Hank McIntire, a spokesman for the Utah National Guard.
They were scheduled to be briefed on their mission Sunday and start their field work as early as Monday, McIntire said.